Jacksmith Wiki:Policies
Policies are the backbone of the wiki. All users, regardless of status and position, are expected to follow them. Any requests for additions or alterations to these policies should be discussed on the talk page. __TOC__ All Editors Are Equal All editors, regardless of status and position, are treated equally, and no one editor is more important than anyone else. Everyone’s opinion is weighted as equal. Assume Good Faith Assume that when an editor makes an edit, it was to help the wiki. If you are positive someone made a non-constructive edit, has misspelled words, or has poor grammar, then feel free to correct it. When disagreeing with people, remember that they are probably thinking they are helping the wiki. Consider using talk pages to explain yourself and give others opportunity to do the same. This can avoid problems and prevent them from escalating. Be patient with newcomers. They may not know how to edit a wiki or what's supposed to be added as content. English Only Policy Jacksmith Wiki is an English wiki. Its infrastructure does not support content in other languages. Doing so would entail different sub-domains and monitoring routines to track changes between different language versions of pages and alert translators. Therefore, non-English content is against policy and can be tagged for speedy deletion. Of course, there are a few exceptions. Making a userpage in a different language is perfectly fine. Communicating to others on their message walls in a different language is acceptable, as long as the person being messaged also speaks the same language. User Treatment Policy Jacksmith Wiki is a friendly and positive community; everyone should treat each other with respect. Although mature language is allowed on the wiki, offending people is not one of our goals. The use of vulgar and profane language is not supported here. While jokes made by users are usually in good fun, jokes that can be considered offensive should be avoided. If a user breaks this rule, after several warnings, he or she will be subject to a block. Editing Guidelines Be Bold A wiki is a place where anyone can edit - and make decisions to add content. Don't be afraid to make edits and change things. Instead of noticing a change and worrying about it, remember that we want you to be bold and edit the page yourself. You will not be reprimanded if you do something wrong, other editors must assume good faith and will undo your edit or edit it if required. While boldness in contributors is encouraged, it is very important that editors not edit recklessly. It is important not to be insulted or insult other users if your changes are reverted or enhanced. Any edits can be fixed if an unforeseen error occurs, but there are some significant changes that can be long-lasting and that are harder to fix if need be. If you have questions about anything, just ask around for advice, we'll be glad to help. Style Articles should follow the format, grammar, and other rules demonstrated in Jacksmith Wiki:Manual of Style. Please refrain from using the impersonal "you" in articles. Try to replace you with something else. Do not delete discussions Do not remove discussions from a talk page or user message wall unless it is blatant vandalism. Old talk pages should be archived instead of being deleted. Discussion pages are an integral part of a wiki; they are a place for users to decide which direction an article should go in, what to include and not to include, and to place any other kinds of comments. User message walls are a place where users can communicate about a wide variety of things, as well as receiving messages from other users regarding edits, and messages from administrators about problems. Keeping discussions can be very useful. For example: *Keeping old discussions may prevent the same debate from happening repeatedly. For example, if two different sources provide differing information, leaving the discussion may prevent it being brought up repeatedly. *Providing a record of a user's actions and discussions with other users. Although it is possible to view the page history, it is much easier to look over a discussion. Signatures Signatures are an essential part of wiki discussions, indicating which comments are posted by which editors. While signatures should not be used on article pages, editors are required to sign off their posts on Talk pages and Forum threads. The default signature, including name and timestamp, can be generated by using ~~~~ or using the signature button on the edit bar. Editors are permitted to use custom signatures. However, these are required to follow a set of User Signature Guidelines. Signatures must clearly state the user's name. Signatures would hardly be a matter though, since the wiki doesn't use anything that could potentially require a signature. Don't Edit Userpages Avoid editing the content of other people's userpages without permission. If you find something that you feel needs changing, leave a message on that user's message wall or message an admin or a bureaucrat to do it. If you do not, you risk being blocked and having your edit reverted. Image Categorisation All images should be categorised accordingly after being . This means that the most relevant categor(ies) should be added to images. The image should not have Category: images because the item is not the focus of the image. User-related images should have the category Category:<> user images. For example, User:ViviannaCoffee's images should be marked with Category:ViviannaCoffee user images. Idea Page Policy Any mainspace pages about unofficial content are strictly forbidden on the wiki. The best spot to place any ideas is in blog posts or user pages. Jacksmith Wiki simply cannot have ideas on mainspace articles. But why? This question is asked all the time. *Readers will be confused on what information is official or unofficial. This will certainly cause trouble and irritation for everyone. No wiki wants this, and the Jacksmith Wiki is no exception. *Having idea pages is more open to vandalism than pages with official content. The creators of idea pages would prefer that they are the only ones to edit it. This may result in a constantly vandalized page and an angry contributor, which is what Jacksmith Wiki wants to avoid. Vandalism Vandalism is the most common reason for blocks on the wiki, and is defined as any edits made out of bad faith. This includes adding inappropriate or nonsensical words to articles, blanking pages, creating spam pages, purposefully changing correct information, and uploading inappropriate, pornographic, or spam images. Users who commit vandalism are usually warned first, and then blocked for at least three days if the non-constructive edits continue. Repeat offenders may be blocked for two weeks, one month, and then one year, for the second, third, and fourth infractions, respectively. If the vandalism is extreme, then there will be no warning, just an instant never-ending ban. Blocking Administrators may determine, for a number of reasons, that blocking an editor is required to maintain the wiki, to enforce policies, to keep a safe distance between disagreements, or to prevent a potential dispute from happening. The duration of blocks may vary, depending on the severity of the offense committed. Blocking Guidelines are used as the general standards for determining block durations, but administrators also use their own discretion on a case-by-case basis. Sock Puppetry Sock puppetry is the act of creating one or more alternate accounts that a user may use to create confusion, deception, or disruption. Such alternate accounts are known as sockpuppets, and are forbidden on this wiki. Alternate accounts may be allowed only if they are used as a bot, like Torey Itaya's JacksmithBOT. Pages for Deletion Many deletions on the wiki are a result of speedy deletion. See the Pages for Deletion Policy to check to make sure if a page meets the criteria to be speedy deleted. If a user thinks that an article should be deleted, but it does not meet the criteria, than he or she may bring it up at Articles for Deletion. WhipMasters and Dominatrices For most Wikia, the admins are usually the ones enforcing the policies. On this wiki, the admins have a little more backup. These are the WhipMasters and Dominatrices. They enforce the policies all the time, and can break the policies as they see fit. However, breaking the policies as WhipMaster may be a regular duty, but for the most part, they follow them. Category:Policies